You know, its not the end end, but its close, and you just want real baseball to start.
Melvin likes way the defense is coming together, says front office always quick to address deficiencies. Defense a plus this year.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) March 28, 2015
Has he not paid attention to who has been playing second base for the last three years?
Apparently there are people that don’t want to go to the A’s pride night. They are assholes, but this woman that grew up with two moms (like me!) is fucking awesome and will relieve them of their tickets and give them to a local gay youth charity. She should be our friend.
Its already starting.
Melvin says Crisp targeted for game on Tuesday. If he isn't ready by then it's possible he will be a DL candidate. But Tues sounds likely.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) March 28, 2015
Reddick thought he'd be ready for start of season but can play in more controlled situations until off DL. Only likely to miss 5 games.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) March 27, 2015
David Ortiz just got taken to school
Elizabeth Warren: Badass. Also, wonkette is supper funny.
In play, run(s)! Talk dirty to me gamecast, talk dirty. - Nevermoor
That awesome woman with two moms is Sean Doolittle’s girlfriend.
didnt know that… rad!
Was there really a revolt? I’m sure you’d have a few loudmouths complaining about it, but I’d be pretty disappointed if there were enough to support the use of the word “many”.
Yeah, I agree, no way this was “many” STHers. I’d be very surprised if it was even 100. Like most assholes, they’re just loud and obnoxious about it.
Now if this was KC….
My BS Detector went off when I read that and having thought about it, I bet somebody at that God Hates Fags club in Topeka got wind of the promotion and sent out a message asking their friends to send a nasty message to the A’s “and be sure to say you’re a season ticket holder”.
It’d be really easy for the A’s to check to be sure if someone contacting them really was a STH or not, though.
I agree. Also hate to be the one to always bag on how crappy the old house was now that I live in a new one, but the most complaining I saw was on some FB post that said it was from **. It had about a half dozen or so (at the time) people saying the usual “why do we have to have this? Lets have aryan brotherhod night too…” BS.
Frankly, I think it’s gonna be a sellout… on a Wednesday… against an NL club.
And seeing as how the A’s are willing to donate decent amounts of money and substantial amounts of tickets and swag to a trans organization 100 miles away, I think the organization has very few fucks to give about a handful of haters.
This has been the worst officiated NCAA tournament I can remember. So many whistles.
Greetings from the Chapel of Love in Reno, where wacchampions and the Famous Ralph have been united in matrimony and the bridal party danced a spirited rendition of “Call Me Maybe”.
Wot no Bernie Lean?
The DJs (who kept calling us the “bridal party” even though we obviously weren’t) did not have either Moving Like Berney or Can You Bernie Lean?, but there was a little leaning incorporated into other dances.
Did they wear white (shoes)?
Oh hell yes:
That’s a beautiful shot.
Kelly Green, Fort Knox Gold, Wedding Tux White.
And a mustache!
Tagline.
I’m glad they chose Reno! They can’t have planned that too far in advance because our constitutional provision prohibiting gay marriage was just overturned in October. I think even the people who object on religious grounds were seeing the idiocy of forcing Vegas and Reno-Tahoe to turn down that business and the money that comes with it.
FK UK
Yeah, just keep on talking about it, Big Yappy.
I know it’s stupid, but our Cactus League record is making me feel considerably better about this team.
Seems about right. I have to say I never saw Ladendorf making it to Oakland.
And that assumes Coco is healthy enough for the opener, about which color me skeptical.
Isn’t the usual Coco procedure to keep him on the roster for a couple of weeks, saying the entire time that he’s day-to-day, then give him a pinch hit appearance timed just right so that his DL stint can’t be retroactively applied?
Anyone who really knows anything knows the A’s aren’t moving Crisp to LF to “keep him healthier.”
Our Opening night lineup is going to start with Fuld and Burns, isn’t it?
It was clear in early Cactus League that they like him at a variety of positions. He’s not here to stay just yet but the idea is probably to give him a little taste of the big leagues and hopefully get his first big league hit out of the way. Because of his versatility I think we’ll see him a fair amount later in the year.
Rats. No Zito or Venditte.
I wanted both too.
Venditte will probably accept a
SacramentoNashville assignment, I think. I suspect that Beane will let Zito take Major League offers from other clubs (maybe that’s already in his contract?).The contract Zito signed as a free-agent non-roster invitee with >10 years of service most likely includes a provision allowing either party to terminate it at the end of spring training. The start today is a favor to him for his work through 2006 (also for allowing the A’s to beat his brains out while he was with SF, thought Soaker sarcastically) as they gave all potentially interested big league teams several days notice to have a scout or two on hand for the showcasing.
And, they prefer to have Gray pitch a minor league game today anyway rather than give the Angels’ hitters a free look at him.
Maybe they have always been this way-but to me it feels like they are actually doing some smart things rotation wise right now. They have put a couple of the guys into Minor league games to avoid an extra look. Also SuSlu mentioned the way the rotation is set up as of now it avoids Kaz making a start against slegnA. He was so terrible against them 2nd half of last year I would have left him off the roster if we faced them at any point in the playoffs.
They tend to send guys to the minors late in spring when they’re facing a team they expect to play early in the season. It’s been pretty standard for several years now.
But it’s only until Schlong is back. My guess is <5 ABs.
Yes, but still. He seemed like a AA talent at best, he’s been suspended because drugs are bad mmmkay, and we got him for the corpse of O-Cab. This is quite an unlikely success story.
Right! he is 32 by now, yeah?
He’s just 27 according to bbref, but has been in the minors since he was 20.
ZiPS projects him for a sweet 67 wRC+
Am I the only person who didn’t particularly like Boyhood *or* Birdman?
I found Birdman to be very boring — save for some of the Norton scenes.
I did enjoy Boyhood a lot, though.
I really liked Boyhood. I thought Birdman was good, but not best picture good — it was well executed, but pretty clichéed. I really enjoyed the Birdman soundtrack.
I thought they were both pretty solid. Any particular reason you didn’t like them?
I really wanted to like Boyhood, because of what he was attempting. I felt like it needed more of a plot. I suppose the plot was “life,” but I needed more than that. I watched the first half, got completely bored, and then it took me about 2 weeks to gather the interest to watch the second half. I think if I had kids myself I would have had more of an emotional connection to it.
I also thought Birdman was fairly boring. Loved the long shots, but that was about it.
That’s a fair critique. I found the first half interesting of Boyhood interesting enough because it felt genuine and the boy’s character was realistic if not incredibly exciting. The lack of drama in the second half when he’s a mopey teenager definitely made it difficult to watch after the 1.5/2 hour mark though. Also could have used some more interesting cinematography, though I was fine with their music selection.
As for Birdman I agree that a lot of its quality does seem to ride on the endless take. That and some of its shock drama. That said, the ending kind of sparks some thought given what occurs in the narrative, so it works well enough for me.
After playing the Spanish version for a while now, I bought the letter sets for German, English and Croatian Scrabble. If they come in time we can do our planned Scrabble Pentathlon on Easter. It’s a game in each language with the final one (double values) played as anything goes (any language whatsoever). I’m going to patent it alter and get rich…
can you only play Q(10) and Q(5) in their corresponding languages? seems like you should only play Q(10) and Q(5) in their corresponding languages.
[counts languages again]
did you mean quadrathlon? ¿or cuádratlon?
Game 1: Spanish
Game 2: German
Game 3: English
Game 4: Croatian
Game 5: Anything goes.
And I’d guess in the anything goes the title value is the title value regardless of what word would be used.
Yup on the games.
In the “anything goes” the letters are from the extended English set and the the special characters that are missing are just spelled “English” way (ö = oe, ñ = ny, Å¡ = sh and so on)
oh. i think my natural aversion to the godawful tedium of scrabble made me think it was just one game, with all tiles in play, where you switch languages per turn.
That’s the last game.
When we play dedicated languages, yes – the tiles are only the ones with the values from that language. Mixed uses English, so Q will be 10 and more probably than not be used in a Spanish or a Latin word.
Could have fun in the mixed game scoring the tiles in the language they’re used in, especially for tiles that are in two words in different languages.
Good idea
Billy Burns is hitting .400 and he probably won’t make the team. We’re pretty deep.
I’m not sure that the first sentence implies the second. It’s spring training, after all. But still, 2015 AL West champs. Woo!!!!
Not trying to be sarcastic with the woo!!! I try to be realistic about spring training but can still be wildly optimistic about the A’s chances this year.
I think the only realistic position right now is that the A’s are probably going to be good.
There have been years, even when the team is good, that a big spring performance gets someone on the team. Adam Rosales comes to mind.
He’s one of those guys I really want to root for to be successful. But what colin said.
Didn’t he kick all kinds of ass last ST as well?
Thanks, and go As.
He hit .306 last year, with only two XBH in 80 PA. His OPS is about 200 points higher this ST, something that he seems to credit to switching to a heavier bat (and then choking on it).
If Pom Pom doesn’t punch that chair, do we still have Russell? Or do we still get Shark but hold onto Cespedes for a couple more months?
pls stop :(
Thanks, and go As.
I know, I felt bad even typing it. But it’s been bugging me, and I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive him.
Semien is going to be a HOF shortstop and will sign a 15 year $30M contract to stay in Oakland the whole time.
Thanks, and go As.
And with Phegley being the next Carlton Fisk, we’re all set.
Person at ticket services said she’s “almost certain” they will have directed parking in place for opener next week.
So despite the ticket services woman on the phone telling me that yes, I could exchange tickets for a “white” tier game for “green” tier game tickets, if I was willing to pay the difference, it turns out that this is specifically forbidden.
I have adopted a policy, in every single A’s ticket services interaction I have this year, while remaining consistently friendly and upbeat, that I will let them know that this three-tier system is alienating me, one of their ostensibly valued best customers.
I was very clear with them that it was the reason I wasn’t renewing. Hope the feedback helps.
The Doolittle family’s dog’s resume.
R.J. Alvarez argued with A.J. Griffin about whose hair is better (R.J., by a lot). Also he won’t cut it all year he says.
If he’s a natural lefty, shouldn’t they at least see what he’s got throwing from the side?
What kind of car do they drive??
A tall one.
Roxy Bernstein gets the nod for Korach substitute, who is out until at least the second homestand (Fri 4/24), says Trib.
Now, all we need are Cotroneo’s replacement and some friendly neighborhood aliens to abduct him.
i know he is the incumbent and all, but tptb have to see his deficiencies, yeah?
They’ve kept Fosse around for how long now?
sigh
My guess is that Vince is considered adequate for a (usually) second chair guy. Safe, not likely to commit embarrassing gaffes. Replacement level. The Sam Fuld of the broadcast booth.
I doubt most organizations keep top-level talent in their backup pxp roles. A’s got incredibly lucky to get Korach behind King.
The Giants have managed it.
yeah, I don’t think fletcher (name? I can’t remeber right now) is long for KNBR
I think second chair pxp guys are usually either young talent on the rise, or older guys keeping their hand in the game part-time. The former tend to move along quickly, the latter don’t plan to ever move again. The third category I suppose are cheap mediocrities who may still hope for a first chair big league job but aren’t likely to find it. Replacement level.
Looking through the list, 8 teams don’t use a second radio PxP; they have the TV-type arrangement of one PxP with an analyst. 5 teams have an ex-player doing #2 PxP. Of the remaining 17, I would say at least 10 are cheap journeyman Vince types so that’s the single biggest category. There are a few young guys and a couple recognizable veteran names who have chosen to accept a lesser role.
Dave Fleming. He is actually listenable (or would be if I weren’t boycotting all things KNBR), especially compared to Kreep and Gripe.
yeah. that’s it. I do like him. A little judgemental at times
Flemming is thought to be a leading candidate when the Dodgers need to replace Vin Scully (good luck, Dave). Scully, who is 87, will work about 90 games this year, 9 full innings without an analyst every night.
Apparently Guy Haberman will take Roxy’s place for the Seattle series.
Guy?
Guy.
win
“The A’s Coliseum bullpens have been altered slightly so that balls stopping there will now be considered dead. Balls that hit in the bullpens and bounce out again will be considered in play.”
Link. So did they add a new railing or something? Or is this just a change of rule interpretation.
So sayeth the Slusser:
So it’s just the bench. Just put up a temporary enclosure around it and put it out of play. Probably can sell more ads space on both sides of the thing.
Maybe a possum habitat?
A little possum door along the side of the original fence.
Hit a ball in there and you get a coupon for a free rabies treatment courtesy of Alta Bates.
You get a rabies treatment! You! Get a rabies treatment! EVERYBODY GETS A RAAAAAABIES TREATMEEEEENNT!
The Frank Francisco memorial chair confinement area.
Why all hipsters end up looking alike
Jonathan Touboul proved that, and AV linked to it, before it was cool
As a non-hip person, I waited for it to become cool before posting it.
i’ll admit i was listening primarily and only watching when there was goal-danger, so i don’t know what he did in the more mid-field plays, but put him in scoring position and… man that michael bradley is a waste of a haircut.
OK, the opponent is going to score 1 or 2 in the last ten minutes. how about scoring 2 or more when you have the clear chance to in the first 45?
this may or may not be sound logic. i am a little angry right now.
Bradley was a mess. Setting aside his poor efforts around the goal, he kept giving the ball away in bad spots.
i didn’t see those.
Klinsy’s continual push to make Bradley an attacking mid just baffles me. He’s a goddamn deep lying midfielder and made it VERY clear today that he’s got no idea what to do when he is on the attack. Let him sit in front of the back line and create, and put Mix on the top of the diamond if that’s what he wants to do so badly.
Jozy’s dissent was stupid, but Swiss guy was doing the same thing and whining for 10 minutes after every foul and nothing. Granted you shouldn’t scream FK YOU at the ref right after you make a yellow card tackle…
Brek Shea might actually be a LB solution. Crazy.
Thanks, and go As.
yeah, jozy was a little out of his mind right there.
I feel like I see English players yell FK OFF at refs 15 times a game in the EPL without getting carded. Italians won’t stand for that I guess.
Agree completely on Bradley. He needs to be playmaking from deep, arriving late in the box to score.
Shea and Chandler are a very nice pair of attacking outside backs, but they scare the hell out of me defending. Chandler especially.
I feel like Fabian Johnson has right back locked down, but he had the flu or something and couldn’t play today.
Thanks, and go As.
I would have thought so after the World Cup, but he played on the left side of midfield last game, and has apparently been playing there for ‘gladbach too. That right back position should be wide open for Chandler or Yedlin heading into the Gold Cup (assuming Chandler decides to show up this time).
Yeah that’s what I don’t get about Chandler. He’s starting RB for a mid table Bundesliga team and from everything I’ve heard plays pretty well for them — but when it comes to National Team duty he’s really subpar.
I guess what I’m trying to say is WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH TIMMEH????
Thanks, and go As.
He just doesn’t seem all that interested in defending sometimes. Like, once today he just completely forgot that Shaqiri was there, and let him get in behind him by 15 yards and deliver a cross right on the doorstep that the other guy botched. That seems to happen a lot. But when he’s attacking he sends in some nasty crosses.
If we’re going to play Shea and Chandler/Yedlin, we need to have a central midfielder next to Bradley who can play almost like a third centerback. Williams did that pretty well today, and Jones is great at it if he has anything left in the tank.
If reddit comments are to be believed, Chandler has said he’s concentrating on club team more than national team.
Makes sense kinda, considering he’s declined callups before. I know Klinsy loves him some German Americans, but maybe it’s time to find another right back who actually wants to be there 100%
Thanks, and go As.
Fangraphs are a bunch of meanies, project the A’s for 3rd place in the AL West with 83 wins. I figure they win 110 easy, what with Gravemen winning Cy Young, Semien winning MVP (and they split RoY I guess?)
Regular season, WS, or both?
World Series MVP is Bryan Anderson — Melvin is finally forced to start him in game 7 after Vogt and Phegley both go down with injuries and he responds by going 5-for-5 with 2 HR while throwing out 3 basestealers.
That was funny.
As if the other team is even going to get 3 baserunners to throw out.
It feels like a lot of people are overrating Seattle. I think Fangraphs is being fair with Oakland though, and they are covering their asses for when the A’s dominate and have the best record in baseball with this quote: “There’s contender-upside in Oakland, but so many high-variance gambles that it’s also pretty easy to see this all going wrong and the A’s being sellers in July.”
We are owed some high variance successes after last year. I’m all in.
if they split the RoY vote, does that mean Phlegly wins?
This Canha’s got some nice pop.
He seems like what they wanted 6 foot Nate to be.
Thanks, and go As.
Yeah, Freiman has to be pretty bummed about the A’s taking Canha in Rule 5. Seems like a complete do-over.
I guess he shouldn’t have sucked then.
Zito’s audition is starting to falter.
Both Zito and Huston Street getting clobbered in this inning. As usual, Antonio Perez does not have any of the hits.
Man, you made me flip over to gameday to check whether Perez was playing for the Angels or something.
They weren’t planning on using Mark Kotsay today but with Milton Bradley having been ejected, it looks like Kotsay will enter the game.
Carlos neither.
That went to shit in a big hurry.
Fearless in the Zone!
He’s just trying to figure out a way to stick with the A’s organization… in Nashville.
Crafty way to jump-start his music career!
A bases-clearing pop-up? Really?
Hit it REALLY high
Thanks, and go As.
Should Sogard have got it?
Yeah, two outs so runners were going on contact. My guess is it was one of those popups that lands near the foul line in shallow right field. Rutledge is right-handed, so probably the defense was shading him to pull.
That’s exactly what happened.
I’m psychic!
I just saw that Gameday announces whenever Venditte switches his throwing hand!
Nice
Never change, Zeets:
I’m not one of the people who’s rooting for him. To take that much money and produce as little as he did is sort of offensive to me even if it was the Giants who got ripped off. He would be taking a major league roster spot and salary from somebody who hasn’t benefited from the game nearly as much as he has. Share the wealth, dude.
Doesn’t bother me at all that Zito cashed in on his value at its highest point. Athletes often never get that chance. Irrespective of the size of a guy’s bank balance, I always root for the smart guy, or the weird guy. I enjoy my sports more with a diversity of personalities. A team of Bryce Harpers would kick ass, and I would hate them.
Not so good, Ryan Verdugo.
Much better, Jim Fuller.
Come on Bobby Wahl. Time for a shutdown inning (drink)!
also yes, Ryan Verdugo, I WOULD like fries with that
Thanks, and go As.
i’m calling peak bandwagon on the warriors. saw brontez today wearing a golden state cap. yeah, that brontez. he looked hella cute with it tho.
good job tonight.
Basketball Messi strikes again. Poor Chris Paul.
I don’t think the bandwagon is even close to peaking. There are still lots of shitty giants fans waiting for them to win a couple of rounds in the playoffs.
Yeah, that was insane. Especially given that Paul is one of the best defenders out there.
I officially joined the bandwagon last night!
Having never watched too much NBA, I have to think the NFL uniforms fines committee must salivate watching the NBA. Blue shoes, black shoes, white shoes, red shoes, short socks, tall socks, one sleeve, two sleeves, long leggings, short leggings. Such a hodge podge!
I’m usually cool with all of the variety, but I will say that the shoe colors have gotten out of control. It’s a little distracting at times.
isn’t that a foul too, for stepping on steph?
JLaff just retweeted this. Apparently there was a Justin Beiber Roast?
Whatever. THis is FKing phenomenal.
Thanks, and go As.
Supposedly they cut that bit from the broadcast, further confirming all opinions of Bieber.
Apparently the guy later tweeted that it was just part of the act.
Howdy, great and glorious FKers! Quick survey: Who is going to opening day, and are you interested in trying to meet up in the lot beforehand?
As of now, we plan to attend the lot for pre-game festivities but have no tickets to the game.
Yes and yes.
Yes! With a request that any artisanal medicinal comestibles be clearly labelled, in case comestibles are contemplated.
I’ll be there
Me and yes. The usual suspects are planning a postgame dessert tailgate in anticipation of directed parking, although that has not been confirmed. Gates are opening at noon. The bleacher/Oaklandish contingent will have its usual festivities in the north lot.
I look forward to seeing all of you. I hope to reach lot around 4:00, after kids get out of school. I’ll post my lot location in the most current FK lounge/grill/game thread (and it would be great if the game thread went up extra early Monday). I am assuming that directed parking will mean we can’t plan for any particular lot spot.
Should have hot coals for anyone who wants to grill until 6:00, then will shut down a little earlier than usual to allow for Opening Day pomp and circumstance.
Be sure to go inside in time for this!
Are either of them still capable of this?
You shut your mouth Mr. Man!
I was assuming that everyone will be at the game and planned on starting the GT for Jennifer, Bed, and myself. I will do it first thing in the morning to get us all ready.
(As an unemployed vagrant my first thing in the morning may not be the same as yours…)
Uh… when is opening day?
Just keep showing up every day and it will be here eventually.
Also, I will color my ‘Hawk green.
Addition-forgot the obvious line I meant to use yesterday:
You talking to me Gertie?
Not going to make it after all – have fun everyone!
status quid now? (i don’t think those words mean what he thinks they mean…)
holy crap. i…
…just sided with english fans.
Holy crap … I did too.
Ugh, Sam Fuld batting second. I’m worried that we’re going to see this a lot until Coco and Reddick return.
Pretty nice work today from Jesse Chavez against the Angels
AAA lineup.Berkeleyside stole monkeyball’s idea, except they don’t realize he was serious.
http://www.berkeleyside.com/2015/04/01/new-proposal-will-keep-raiders-in-san-francisco-bay/
Awesome, and very creative with the names without resorting to Ho Lee Fuk, etc.
Just go with a 6 man rotation so that you can keep the arms fresher.
At least he isn’t getting passed over for Zito. I do think it’s a tossup between him and Pomeranz, in terms of who would provide the best performance.
I see more starter upside in Pomeranz, plus Chavez has already shown he can thrive in the long man role. Correct move for me.
If Chavez doesn’t end up making any starts this year, things will either have gone very right or very wrong
Crisp out up to two months, per Slusser?
….fuck.
Well that’s just great.
75 wins, here we come!
2012 coco, yes, we’re fk’d. 2014 coco? not so much.
Sure fuld/gentry/sogard/ladendorff don’t set the world on fire, but the drop off is lower then last year and the year before.
If we were relying that much on Crisp to begin with we were already fked.
Well yes, but when gentry gets hurt you are going to be playing Fuld Burns and Sogard every day all of which desperately aspire to be 1 WAR players
I just don’t get how they traded so much talent the past 8 months and didn’t acquire any quality outfielders, prospects or otherwise. It really doesn’t take much thought to figure out that a full time outfield of Crisp, Fuld, and Reddick was going to have issues.
Zobrist. But then you can make an argument that they didn’t get enough infield help.
then lenscrafters position is “I just don’t get how they traded so much talent the past 3 years and didn’t aquire any quality infilders”
Is it likely that the A’s will put Crisp on the 60-day DL? And if they do, who would take the open spot on the 40-man roster? Pridie isn’t very exciting, but he is a warm body for the outfield and he bats left-handed, which is something the A’s are currently missing.
Without any 40-man moves, they could bring up Freiman and put Canha full time in the outfield, but this doesn’t give platoon options.
Canha seems to be the best option. We can survive a week or two of Canha/Gentry/Zobrist before it became Zobrist/Gentry/Reddick. Unfortunately Zobrist and Canha in the OF means we’re not only relying on Sogard but the backup in case of Ike failing is now Butler.
And at some point we’re going to see a Burns/Gentry/Fuld OF. Which is…fast, I suppose.
I’m bored at work, so here’s some rosterbating:
vs RHP
C: Vogt (L)
1B: Davis (L)
2B: Sogard (L)
SS: Semien (R)
3B: Lawrie (R)
LF: Burns (S)
CF: Fuld (L)
RF: Zobrist (S)
DH: Butler (R)
vs LHP
C: Phegley (R)
1B: Davis (L)
2B: Zobrist (S)
SS: Semien (R)
3B: Lawrie (R)
LF: Canha (R)
CF: Gentry (R)
RF: Ladendorf??? (R)
DH: Butler (R)
I assumed that Zobrist, Semien, and Lawrie would all be everyday players. This lineup makes Davis and Butler into everyday players as well, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. Ladendorf’s outfield experience is mostly in center — could switch his and Gentry’s positions if that gives a better defensive look. Overall, I’m not too happy about the number of black holes in those lineups.
I would feel better about it if Reddick came back as an everyday player, Zobrist took over 2B full time pushing Sogard to the bench, and we platoon Fuld/Gentry in center and Canha/Burns in left.
I can get behind this. When are the phillies going to trade us rollins?
I’m pretty excited to see what Semien can do, so not that pumped about Rollins. ZiPS/Steamer both think Semien will be a better hitter and an average defender (vs plus defense for Rollins). I’m curious about the difference in the playing time between ZiPS (thinks Semien will play 144 games) vs Steamer (just 123 games).
i am hoping to replace sogard
Isn’t Rollins in LA now?
Yes
That’s why he is still waiting.
Relevant Fangraphs
Should have read down.
Coco posted something to the effect of he is shooting for 2-3 weeks. As much as I want him I hope he takes his time because he more than anyone else is the guy that ends up day to day for the whole year.
parker? may?
They were saying June earlier, so May isn’t too big of a jump if rehab is going well.
I’m not going to panic about this. I’m bummed about it because it means two months of not seeing Coco play, but if it means him coming back stronger for the final four months, I can live with that. Maybe we’ll get second half of 2010 Coco.
Better an actually healthy Coco (if we can get that) than the eternal day-to-day Coco
like trading for an ace at the deadline!
Coco is making use of his time off by joining instagram and doing and damn good job of it:
*suddenly becomes more interested in baseball*
I recognize all of the guys on the left, and none of the guys on the right.
yep
I think I recognize A Griffin ‘ golden locks in the far back right.
I thought that was maybe Bryan Anderson…
Pridie is the current team beard champion so that’s him with the sunglasses and headphones.
Cute, but he spelled his younger son’s name wrong.
And forgot the picture of Ed at the very end.
right?
The patient is what makes the outfit sexy.
So that’s where the bodies were buried:
Debridement? Is there alimony involved?
Two whores.
kissing?
Thanks, and go As.
So now he’ll be able to throw?
We’re number
onetwenty sevenConsidering how different our system looks compared to this time last year, it’s kind of interesting that we managed to stay in exactly the same place in the rankings. That’s going to be my takeaway rather than which place we happen to be in
holding steady!
like I said… we didn’t get any top tier specs, Bareto included.
Barreto alone wasn’t going to push us up the list much. Last year we had Russell and still were at 27.
Anyway, as in 2012, Beane was looking almost exclusively for major league ready guys, not high ceiling prospects.
Sickeles didn’t even give him a B+. We didn’t get one B+ in the whole fricking trading away an MVP contender with four years of cheap control, a high #2 starter, a partime starting catcher and a power hitting OFer.
zomg thanks again billy
then they’ll win 90 fucking games again and go to the playoffs again.
Thanks, and go As.
Wait, Sickels did give Barreto a B+. He’s number 38 on the list.
Nolin and Graveman are B-.
No he didn’t
My link is published later and says “Grades here supersede previously published lists and rankings.”
Fair enough. I hadn’t seen the update.
Why did you just say he didn’t and then link and quote that he did?
A B+/B is not a B+
I’m with you that I still wouldn’t do the JD trade, but Hahn and Semien would absolutely get B+’s or better if they were eligible.
Right but they aren’t eligible.
I like Hahn a lot. I like him better than Bareto.
But why does it matter if they’re eligible? The A’s get them for 6 years and they have more talent than most B+ prospects.
hate to pile on in this near flame war, but barreto’s not alone anymore.
hear ye, year ye. the poster formerly known as brian.only is now to be called brian.withawife.
Nice, congrats b!
Not sure he’s fully out of the closet about that yet.
he posted it on FB. that’s how i found out.
saw that. good for him. now if he can finish that breaking bad thing he can get to posting here
Is he going to really use that profile name? If so, that would be awesome. And the possibilities are endless: brian.withawifeandkid, brian.divorced, brian.withawifebutstilllooking, brian.withawifeandamistress, brian.withawifeihadnothingtodowiththedisappearanceofandamistress…
Barreto is a B+.
You also said that we lost prospect value this offseason and it is clear we didn’t.
Barreto for Robertson is a wash. On five major evaluation sites (BA, BP, Law, McDaniel, Sickels) Robertson averages a rank of #73, Barreto of #74.
If you look into the entirety (using Sickels, as I find it the simplest one to use) we traded following prospects this offseason:
OUT:
Robertson B+
Streich C+
Powell
House
Ynoa
IN:
Barreto B+
Nolin B-
Graveman B-
Alvarez B-/C+
Wendle C+
Canha C+
Ravelo C+
Bassitt C+
And that’s not counting the young players who are not officially prospects anymore, like Semien or Hahn.
So that’s one B+ and one C+ (along with two “others”) for one B+, two B- and 5 C+.
I cant figure out how to search for comments so Im not sure which statement/ context you are referring to.
Barreto is a worse prospect than Robertson. Weve lost prospect value this offseason.
Well in your metric above, Robertson is better than Barreto. I think Barreto is overrated, which ive said. I think hes significantly less projectable than people think and I value Robertson significantly more.
Nolin is hurt and never was that exciting as an older 4th starter type and I like striech better than him. Zips projects Striech better than Nolin this year. I had Striech at B- and Nolin as a C+
Alvarez is a reliever with a history of having a sore arm. Hes good, but I think valuing relievers who were shut down with arm problems last year that highly is problematic.
Can you really write this and have a straight face while you do? In my metric above Robertson is better than Barreto, because one is #73 and the other is a #74? Really?
And generally it is a good concept that when you often quote Sickels you don’t cherry pick the ones that support your point and ignore the other ones. I can gladly accept your opinion that we lost prospect value this offseason. You might be right. But people who get paid to evaluate prospect (and the same ones who are very often the base for your opinions) vehemently disagree.
My face is usually my face regardless of what Im saying. Does your face usually contort? If so you may want to seek medical advice because my mom says that it can get stuck that way.
Baseball America had Barreto 20 spots bellow Robertson
Keith Law had Barreto 12 spots bellow Robertson
Im going with those especially with how significantly Sickeles changed his mind on Barreto’s placement.
I like several of the A’s prospects that were acquired. I strongly believe than Robertson is the best prospect that the A’s had at any point of the offseason, and that they lost value by trading him (though I think the Zorbrist acquisition was generally a good one at the point in the offseason they were at). This is not an extraordinary position.
That’s fine. I don’t really see how you can claim that you put any weight into what Sickels has to say and simultaneously maintain position that the incoming group is worse than the outgoing one, but I don’t care enough as to get dragged from the argumentation part into the being a dick part of this discussion.
Because I read more than sickels?
Because I think the C+ guys are roleplayers at best?
also giving a rule 5 draftee as credit to the trades is misplaced in my opinion.
Not sure what or whom you mean by this
they traded for Canha.
Austin House and $$$
Thanks, and go As.
The Rockies got him in the Rule 5 before making that trade. So he’s still a Rule 5 draftee.
Still, they traded for him. But anyhow, it has only extremely marginal effect on the general point.
For the wikipeds: Windward is the direction upwind from the point of reference. Leeward is the direction downwind from the point of reference. Akward is the direction of Alaska from the point of reference.
I’ve been enjoying the DFA-ism of this grill title for several days now, but you just turned my enjoyment up a notch.
It’s been reminding me of Mars Attacks!
And coward is the direction of Colorado from the point of reference?
Paging Dr. Badofsky … a stray synapse fired-off this memory:
Oh no — straybies?
Brilliant
True genius.
Very nice
Although it could definitely use some proofreading, it’s nice to see an article about my favourite basketball player
Weirdly written piece. I can see why the Bulls put that big disclaimer at the top.
I wish Kukoc had gone somewhere other than the Bulls when came to the NBA. He should have been starting, and he shouldn’t have had to put up with the assholery of Jordan and Pippen.
I remember Pippen refusing to come in after the timeout in which the final play was decided to be Toni’s. And then he made it.
His game I remember the most, though, is the U19 World Cup vs. USA in 1987. It was in the year that Yugoslavia already claimed U19 world titles in football and handball and then Kukoc dropped 11 threes (on 11/12 shooting) on the US team with Larry Johnson and Gary Payton.
As great as Pippen’s career was, he’s never going to live down that moment.
I had never actually seen Kukoc play until he got to the Bulls, but I remember him being talked about in these almost mythical terms by basketball people. He took so long to come over after the Bulls drafted him that I was starting to question whether he really existed.
linked for comment
Any Atheists wanna go to the Quakes game on Sunday? I have 4 tickets that none of the guys who went in on them can use.
100 bux.
Thanks, and go As.
maybe. don’t hold them for me. but I might. I will check things out
Alberto Callaspo is hitting .231/.239/.231 for Atlanta in spring training.
you don’t really get an alberto callaspo for his bat
He took a walk?!?
hbp
So the Braves add Trevor Cahill to a roster that already includes Callaspo, Jim Johnson, Josh Outman and Jonny Gomes. Oh, and A.J. Pierzynski.
Atlanta vs Philly for worst in the NL East is looking like a nailbiter.
the expos are going to win 35 of 38 games against those 2.
I can see keeping the rest of those guys around for whatever reason, but why Callaspo? Best case he bounces back to replacement level.
I feel the same way about Gomes.
A good Friday to you all. I just officially became the best dad ever and Lil Miss Aces will be seeing Arianna Grande later this year.
And in less than 12 hours I will be dancing to the English Beat with a GIRL. And it might actually be a date for realz… (to people who actually single out there-is it sometimes akward and you dont actually know if what you are going on is a date or is this just my specialty?)
Been there, done that. Once. And I totally failed even though to this day, still don’t know.
Date or not, if you’re dancing to English Beat then you are definitely doing something right.
agreed.
cool!
and who cares if its a date.
I was talking to my friends last night about this. I told them just that-no matter if it ends up a date or not I dont really care. As long as I dont offend the young lady, who is very nice and I love hanging out with regardless. My freinds started by saying how do you not know. But then as I explained everything they ended up like “yeah-at some point youll just have to figure it out”.
But Colin has the best #trufax. I SEE THE ENGLISH BEAT IN LIKE 8-9HOURS!!! My most memorable single experience at a festival type event was at Shoreline for a BFD when EB was there. Mrs. Aces and I were going to the snack area to get something thinking it would take a bit for set up and we were ok with missing a meh first song. Many others must have thought the same because the area was pretty busy. All of a sudden the drum intro to “Mirror in the Bathroom” starts as their first song. A sea of people turned and ran back their seats to jump around like crazy.
The way I see it, if one doesn’t worry too hard about relationship potential or trying to slip the dick in the first handful of “dates”, one can just chill and have a good time and see what happens from there. Being chill implies confidence, whereas overthinking whether something is a date or not or whether or not one will get laid betrays anxiety and a bit of desperation.
I hope you had a great time!
A BIT of desperation? It’s like a 50 ton weight of it.
Did try for a kiss and got everything but the Mutumbo finger wag. #guessitwasntadate
Had a great time as always! Hopped like I havent in a long time. My friend had an ok time too. (I am a good enough person that we both could have a great time and move past that nastiness in a moment or two..) She had never heard of Ska so it was all new to her.
Book. Yay.
English beat #trufax: about 20 years ago I worked at Slim’s and we used to book them a few times a year as whatever they were legally allowed to be called at that time. Anyway Dave Wakeling did all his own booking and he insisted on doing everything by fax. No phone calls, only fax.
As long as you know which way Alaska is at all times, it’s fine.
Hamilton won’t be suspended. Angels aren’t getting out from under his contract this way at least
good
Obviously Im glad the slegnA are stuck. But based on this.
I’m even more glad. Almost makes me tink they supplied the smack to get out of a contract.
oh my. that is nut balls.
he should go 100% sheffield on their asses.
He should go 200% Sheffield on their asses.
That’s a pretty dick thing to say. Especially publicly.
Porch dick.
Lol. Totally.
Front office dick.
Hahahaha what a bunch of assholes.
Fuck slegnA
Even though I’m sure the Slegna would love to send him Akward, what an akward thing to say publicly.
It’s almost as if he doesn’t want to pay or play Hamilton
They should trade him to us with the money to pay his contract and sobriety team.
Does not smell like victory:
Tommy Milone,
#5#4 starter.Paging Mr. Zito to the white courtesy telephone?
that is what soaker said, right?
Not exactly, but they had already demoted Pelfrey to mop-up relief and now they have to eat their hat. So that would be a logical move.
Unless he’s already got a better offer from the Barves.
Ha!
Stanozolol? Wow baseball is like 30 years behind track, no wonder they oppose testing so vehemently
@EM: A truly epic tale, told in a mere two tweets.
Even Hemingway needed 6 words.
UFO enthusiasts say “It’s Time For Hillary!”
http://jezebel.com/ufo-enthusiasts-are-psyched-for-a-hillary-clinton-presi-1695470996
Looks pretty nice
Still looks kind of small.
I can live without it being ATandT sized.
The one in KC hurts my eyes.
That’s what I’m saying. You can see those things even when you’re not looking at them.
Agreed. I can never see the ATT one. It might be better with a different orientation, like wider instead of tall. That said, this is a HUGE improvement. I cannot say enough about it.
Also, rosales is batting 1000 already?
I just want to see the lineups
The seats that couldn’t see those before still won’t be able to, no?
i would guess.
But the linups never stayed up.
After seeing how they used the “largest video board in the Cactus League” I’m calling bullshit. At Hohokam at least 25% of the space was dedicated to advertising at all times.
It does seem to be lacking a certain gigantic Bud ad.
…so i’m addicted to podcasts.
can anybody rec one that’s dedicated to culture and sports? no i don’t want loud thoughts on who’s gonna win this or that, or what’s the matter with anybody. yes i want to learn that the first big spectator sport in the US was rather pedestrian. help? i’m jonesing.
I think I need to produce this one.
Speaking of which, there’s a Mina Kim *and* a Queena Kim??!
Yeah, and both of their first names rhyme with mine so it’s pretty effing confusing.
well, what’s it called and why aren’t there more episodes of it yet??
CityArts needs moar podcastes.
Podcast idea: “AV’s Sporting Kingdom”, a bilingual journey into the sordid underbelly and eccentric history of sports in the Western Hemisphere from antiquity to present.
No one can possibly be happier about this than I am, except maybe batgirl.
Kurt Russell is still hot.
I named one of the players in my long-term simulation after his pop, Bing.
Bing Russell (in my sim) kept signing 3-year free agent contracts with the Pirates and being traded in the middle of the third year. He spent his whole career with the Pirates with exception of post deadline-trade stints before coming back to Pittsburgh in free agency. After I saw the pattern repeating by accident, I intervened to keep it up specifically.
Go you Mavericks go!
Lol!
Japan + baseball + Prius = Spectacular.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=OpWUEj5RoGc%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_embedded” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen>
nice
awesome
so awesome
I like how the women absolutely crush the baseballs.
Yeah. I was surprised by that, then introspective about why I found it surprising.
The Scottish National Party (SNP) is much more moderately to the left of Labour’s traditions than the Conservative government is to their right. It’s embarrassing to watch how hard the current party leadership works to distance itself from the former while embracing the language and world-view of the latter.
The Liberals flew too close to the sun in their alliance with the Tories, who themselves barely exist in the Celtic fringes, so it should really just be a battle between Labour and Tory for England. But Labour’s playing party over policy, and the lunatics (Kippers, Tories, Unionists and all) could retain control of the asylum.
And speaking of Unionists, Northern Ireland is an example of the very thing – neither Labour nor Tory field candidates there, since both are English to the core, but have their historical SDLP and Unionist alliances respectively (Sinn Fein still doesn’t take its seats at Westminster, though it does in Eire and Europe).
Meanwhile in the land of the National Health Service there’s a boom in home-dentistry kits.
and with all that, you guys still find time to spy on argentina?
this one’s funny. “claimed that Britain tried to obtain intelligence which would discredit the Argentine government.” that’s like obtaining intelligence to make the sun rise in the morning.
better article: https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/04/02/gchq-argentina-falklands/
showing too that the not least fascinating aspect of all this is that high level intelligence work is done with the same crappy bullet-pointed powerpoint presentations we all have to sit through.
this topic’s turned so ridiculous that there’s really nothing wry to say about it anymore.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/falklands-invasion-guide-containing-gps-5465754
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
UK goes 38-1.
Fuckin’ Bucky.
Tark looked down, removed the towel from his mouth, and said “you have good kids, but they just didnt play hard enough. You lose.”
if it’s really about “television announcers like mota — hispanic, bilingual, bicultural — are an anomaly in major league baseball,” i’m not sure shavéz is circle-worthy enough.
MEXICAN ENOUGH TO BE CIRCLED!
eric chavez, buck martinez, ron darling yes, Keith hernandez no.
But he’s Keith Hernandez
right. He was on Seinfeld, therefore he is not a minority.
Totally logical.
I think Kathy Griffin would be good in a 3 person MLB booth.
Not even on a feminist crusade about this or anything, but it would be nice to hear a few more women in league booths. Ex softball players or multi-sport stars with good public speaking skills and the ability to learn a hybrid part-color part backup pxp role…
Kathy Griffin would be absolutely awful (and I kind of like her personality in general). But I could totally get behind a Kathleen Turner/Scarlett Johansson type with that sultry, husky voice telling us what’s going on. As fucked up as it sounds, that type of gender shift in an exclusively male arena, the best approach is one where you draw on that misogyny a bit to pave the way. Crusade or not, whatever woman were to do that would be hit with a shit ton of childish hate mail. Either way, you definitely need a voice that’s easy on the ears for 3+ hours and isn’t Glen Kuiper.
Kathleen madigan. cardinals fan though
Tea Leoni
well, sure. actresses and comediennes with inoffensive voices (to the male ear — what’s aural for “gaze?”). it’s not like there are any women already working in sports broadcasting at other levels of various games, like say, college softball for ESPN, who’re willing to break the barrier and bring decades of insight and experience to the booth.
way to make me feel like an ass.
I’ll just put my fedora back on and go the MRA meeting
you spelled HMWHC wrong.
” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen>
it’s like they are people
Them too. I just want more of her voice in my life. Madam Secretary isn’t enough.
No three-person booths ever.
So much this. Rather than diminishing the chances for one idiot to speak, three-person booths mostly result in 2-3 idiots fueling each other.
I’d like a zero-person both, myself.
The no-announcer audio option is back on MLB.tv. I think it was gone last year.
jenny finch
Somehow water fell out of the clouds this morning. Strangest thing.
You poor people.
I was out in central Massachusetts and it started FKing snowing again.
Not enough to trigger the standard NPR story about how a day’s rain wasn’t enough to make a difference in the drought. But enough to make me regret running the drip system on Saturday.
Ryan Sweeney DFA.
Given the current state of our outfield he almost seems worth picking up.
But even then, probably not.
don’t we have gentry, fuld and burns?
Yeah, our cup already overfloweth with Sweeneys.
his power is going to develop soon.
Thanks, and go As.
Thanks, and go As.
I’m pulling for them, but it sure feels like the Padres are destined to crash and burn spectacularly with all of this stuff.
Poor Melvin was going to get to start in ATL (by default)
Tell him goodbye.
http://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/article/Lon-Simmons-Bay-Area-broadcasting-legend-dead-6180395.php
I get that Simmons is more closely associated with the Giants for a variety of reasons (called them when they came to SF, was overshadowed by King in Oakland, baseball nostalgists skew old, went back to the Giants organization after retiring), but the feelings that A’s fans have for him should not be relegated to parentheses. He was on the mic for us for 14 years, and he called a World Series win for us. For fans of a certain age (mine), he and King were equally the voices of summer.
I always like his calls. Wish they used him more in the waning years
Preach it, brother.
take advantage of our offer? hahaha, no sf gate. no.
Forecast for tomorrow holding steady at cold and windy, but no rain until midnight. I will be leaving the E-Z Up at home.
Perfect conditions for ending a 10 year losing streak, I say.
Not facing Felix for a change is a bigger boost to perfect conditions
well… it’d been raining a good bit, followed by “49° F, wind 12mph out to rightfield,” when.
Not throwing Johnson for a change is a bigger bigger boost to perfect conditions
now you’re talking sense.
READ THE THREAD,
EDACES!It’s such an important point that it needed to be said twice.
And not even Darvish either
But we have had his number. I see that as some of that A’s “luck” that seems good but isnt in our favor.
Considering how different the bats look this year, I’d rather pass on facing a pitcher of his quality if given the choice
No Jim Johnson also a plus.
Barton was a big goat last opening day too, as I recall.
Haven’t gone back and looked, but I seem to remember that was when Staplehead couldn’t advance because he went to far from the base.
But I’m pretty sure we had the lead when we began the Jim Johnson Experience. And by the time he was pulled he was known as LD to many.
Nope, tied IIRC (scoreless? or at least very low scoring)
It was tied 0-0 when Johnson came in. The A’s had a chance to score in the 8th when Barton was on second and Donaldson hit a ball off the wall.
If I remember correctly, both teams had lots of chances to score that game before the Johnson Experience first reared its head.
TO my dying breath, Barton scores, we still lose after the JJ experiment.
God, was that only a year ago? It seems like forever.
Seriously.